A couple of months ago I shared a story about my 1956 Thunderbird. I had some fun times in that vehicle. At one of my monthly breakfasts with old buddies, I was reminded of another interesting day that also involved my T-Bird.We have stretches of years when snowstorms create havoc for the boys high school basketball sectionals, and when I owned my Thunderbird, things were no different.

I was dating a wonderful gal, Eloise Richardson, who lived on Dudley Avenue just west of Madison. She was a couple of years behind me, and we had a lot of mutual friends. She and her family hadn’t lived in our area for long. I believe they had moved here from New Albany, Ind.

I think it was after my senior year at Southport that Eloise explained to me that she and her family were moving back to New Albany. I drove down to visit a couple of times, but I don’t believe I had purchased my 1956 T-Bird yet. They had a great house that was at the top of a long, windy road.

Along came late February and the basketball sectionals at Southport Fieldhouse, where we would enjoy home court advantage. I had my tickets for the entire event, as did most of my buddies. When I heard that Eloise was coming up for the weekend, I made plans with her to go to the games. I picked her up in my sporty T-Bird at the home of her girlfriend.

The games were great, but a near-blizzard had blown in during them. During the somewhat long walk back to my car, I noticed that no snow plows had been through the intersection of Banta Road and Shelby Street. When I tried to make it through that messy crossway, the undercarriage of my low-riding car stuck on a pile of snow; my front and back wheels were off the ground.

My attempts to shove the car off the pile were in vain. Since Eloise was skilled in operating a car with a standard transmission, she hopped in the driver’s seat, and we worked together until the car finally broke free.We headed toward my parents house at a snail’s pace in the snowstorm. I recall not getting upset when I got stuck in my parents’ driveway; I was just glad to be home.

Eloise slept in our living room that night. The remainder of that weekend is a blur. I reconnected with her a couple of months ago on Facebook. She lives in Florida. It would be interesting to see if and how she remembers that weekend.

Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.

After almost 40 years of teaching, I decided it was time to retire from Beech Grove High School in 1997.But I soon discovered that I was wrong about it being time, so I returned to my old school to work a few hours a week on the grounds. That led to the maintenance department and eventually to transportation, where some 18 years later I am still hanging out on a part-time basis.

It was in the transportation department that I met bus driver Fred Shonk, with whom I became good friends. You may have read some of his articles in this paper or attended school with him. You might have even ridden on his bus or seen him at one of the many community functions he attends.

Soon after I started in the transportation department, our school district purchased two buses, one of which was assigned to Fred, who named it Ursula. The children he transported – kindergartners and elementary pupils – thought it was a cool name. Fred nurtured the bus, and the children liked it as much as he did.I recall the time the kids found a spider on the bus and became frightened. Fred came to the rescue when assuring them that everything was all right because the spider – Fred – was one of his pets.

Fred loved his job and has become longtime friends with many of his former passengers. When Superintendent Paul Kaiser opened the Beech Grove alternative school, Fred befriended many of the students who attended it and offered them support. I remember a time when Fred and two other school employees purchased a car for a student as a graduation present so she could drive to and from her job. At the beginning of the next school year, Kaiser offered her employment.

Another student whom Fred grew close to had an interest in robotics, so Fred took it upon himself to meet with Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, an acquaintance, and discussed the possibility of that student pursuing her studies at Purdue. We have since learned that she was awarded a scholarship and will attend the West Lafayette campus in the fall.

Along with Fred’s many civic activities, he has trained therapy dogs, which visit nursing homes and schools and greet troops returning to Camp Atterbury from deployments. Stuart, his current dog, and Fred can be seen entering Hornet Park and South Grove elementary schools every Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, where Stuart listens to children read. Studies have shown that pupils who don’t read well can improve that skill when perusing to dogs.

Fred’s wife, Lynn, volunteers at the Historic Hanna House.Fred is a great citizen, a valuable contributor to our community and one of the most loyal, caring persons I know. I am honored to call him my friend.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by my good friend and former Southport High School classmate Judy (Tout) Snyder. She had been talking to fellow classmates John Todd and Shirley Zimmer, and they thought it would be fun to contact our other classmates and invite them to meet us at the Feb. 6 Southport-Perry Meridian basketball game. We received several positive responses.

Our graduating class is really amazing. We have always had wonderful attendance at our reunions, and everyone enjoys them. We have one planned for this summer.

Since Shirley and I arrived at the game early, she met our former classmates in the lobby and directed them to where we were sitting. One of the first classmates I ran into was a fellow I probably hadn’t seen since graduation. I shook hands with John Albright, who said he didn’t think he had been back to the school since graduation. I was so glad to see John.

At some point I noticed that our area seemed to be getting crowded. I looked around and was surprised to see that the fieldhouse looked about three-quarters full.

That took me back to my high school days and some years after our graduation. Many of our basketball games were played in front of almost-capacity crowds. I can remember looking to a certain area and always seeing my parents.

Just about when the players were to be introduced, I noticed Perry Township Schools Superintendent Thomas Little and his wife walking toward me. We exchanged pleasantries, and they took the seats next to me. The Littles watched the opening ceremonies and the first quarter with us before moving to the other side of the fieldhouse to hang out with some Perry Meridian folks.

Some of my former classmates had noticed that I was chatting with the superintendent, and they wanted to know what we were discussing. Sporting a serious look, I explained that Dr. Little had been notified of our class coming to the game, and he was sitting near us to ensure that we would behave. I just stood there and waited for them to realize that I was messing with them.

Josh Spiedel, the Columbus North player who was recently injured in an automobile accident, was honored during the game. All of the players wore warm-up shirts with Josh’s number 32 on them. During halftime of the varsity game there was a one-minute contest to see which school could raise the most money to help Josh’s family. Buckets were passed all around the fieldhouse. Southport won the contest, but it also had the most fans. The total collected was $1,061.

From my seat I saw lots of friends. I saw Steve Harnedy roaming around the building several times, and I even spotted Marilyn Mayfield tossing popcorn at someone from her seat (I’m sure she cleaned it all up later).Oh, by the way, the third-ranked Cardinals (16-2) walloped the Falcons 80-51 to cap off a special evening.

I recently attended one of Marian University’s women’s basketball games. The team is coached by Katie Geralds, who in her second year at the helm has steered the Knights to a 20-4 record and a No. 10 ranking in NAIA Division I. Katie and her team played outstanding and won by about 20 points. The Knights are fun to watch, and all of the players contribute to each game.

During halftime, athletic director Steve Downing handed out some awards to Marian athletes from other sports. As I watched his presentation, I started remembering some things about Downing, and that made me smile.As I was departing the game, I walked past the athletic office. The door was open, and I saw someone talking with Steve Downing. I sat down in the lobby and waited until his office had cleared out before entering and being greeted by him.

I handed him one of my Southsider Voice business cards and introduced myself. Our conversation started with me saying something that I was sure would cause a puzzled look to form on his face. I told him that I was fairly certain that many years back I had played basketball on his team and against him. He had no idea what I was talking about.I then uttered the words “Edgewood Grade School,” which allowed the light bulb to shine over his head and that great big smile to show up.

Steve and his good friend and teammate George McGinnis traveled down to Edgewood from their homes near Washington High School to play on the many asphalt courts surrounding our grade school. They led the 1964-65 Washington team to the state basketball championship before playing for Indiana University and at the professional level. The courts attracted hundreds of players when the weather was nice. On occasion I was picked to be on one of the three-man teams. My assignment was always the same: I passed the ball in bounds to one of my teammates and got the heck out of the way.

A fellow named Kenny Davis walked into the office, and he smiled broadly when hearing Edgewood mentioned. I told them about my dad’s Sunoco service station and the fact that lots of the players walked over to it and bought cold soft drinks. Kenny laughed and told me that he remembered the station.Steve told me that George was in Florida. I explained to Steve and Kenny that George and I once owned industrial supply businesses in Indianapolis. Steve then pointed out that George and I had two connections: Edgewood basketball and nuts and bolts. I also had two connections with Steve Downing: Edgewood basketball and Katie Geralds.

A few days later I dropped off a copy of the picture below.Basketball connects a lot of folks in many ways here in Indiana. I love it.

Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.